Merz at Maischberger
“‘Make a Wish’ is over”
By Marko Schlichting
November 22, 2023, 5:31 a.m
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The federal government is in a serious financial crisis. This was triggered by the Federal Constitutional Court, before which the CDU/CSU faction had sued. The verdict was not a triumph, says its chairman Merz. He definitely sees scope for design for the 2024 budget.
It is likely to be the biggest financial crisis that Germany has ever experienced. Last week, the Federal Constitutional Court declared the climate fund partially unconstitutional. The government is now short of 60 billion euros for the planned ecological restructuring. At the same time, the court also made it clear that the state is not allowed to accumulate debt in order to finance projects in the coming years. This had previously been a popular practice of the various federal governments. This could also affect the economic stabilization fund, which the Federal Ministry of Finance blocked on Tuesday as a precautionary measure. It contains credit options of up to 200 billion euros and should be used primarily to curb electricity and gas prices.
If the traffic light coalition has its way, the budget for the coming year will be passed in the responsible Bundestag committee on Thursday, which will then pass the Bundestag next week. CDU leader Friedrich Merz sees it differently. The 2024 budget is not ready for a decision, he says on Maischberger on ARD. “We will have to correct the 2023 budget with a supplementary budget, and that has to be done this year. Then the year 2024 can certainly be organized. I believe that it can be done. There will be around 15 billion euros that will be saved must,” says Merz, who is also opposition leader in the Bundestag. 15 billion euros – that’s roughly how high the federal government’s shareholding in Telekom is. Journalist Wolfram Weimer pointed this out before the interview with Friedrich Merz, without directly suggesting that they be sold. However, experts have been calling for this for years.
“Negligent deception of voters”
Merz told Maischberger that last week’s Constitutional Court ruling was not a triumph for the opposition. He also said that at a meeting of the Union parliamentary group. The traffic light government had converted an unused shadow budget from which Corona aid was to be financed into payments to companies that it wanted to help convert to climate-friendly technologies. The Federal Constitutional Court banned this. “It is a negligent deception of voters in Germany,” Merz now accuses the federal government. They presented an unconstitutional budget. This refers to the supplementary budget for 2021, which the Federal Constitutional Court has declared void.
The federal government now has to make ends meet with less money. Merz demands that priorities must now be set. This also applies to the transformation of the economy. “The time when you want to achieve transformation through subsidies financed with debt is over.” If Merz has his way, saving is now the order of the day. The CDU leader demands that the federal government must reverse the increase in “so-called citizens’ money”. At the same time, the government’s labor market policy must be changed. The basic child welfare provision, which was intended to create 3,000 to 5,000 new civil servant and white-collar positions in the public service, was also wrongly designed. “To establish a completely new system with a lot of bureaucracy is simply insane.” Merz also wants to withdraw the heating law passed in September. “What has to be subsidized for private households is completely out of all proportion to the CO2 savings,” says Merz. With these measures the government could save at least ten billion euros.
Merz does not recommend tax increases and is against weakening or even suspending the debt brake. This is only possible in exceptional emergencies that are beyond the influence of the federal government. “But she deliberately brought about this situation,” said the CDU chairman. The federal government collected almost a trillion euros in taxes. “At the moment I don’t see that we need to go to the debt brake. There are plenty of opportunities to save elsewhere. The federal government has to exercise discipline now. Everything just doesn’t work anymore and ‘make a wish’ is over. “
Criticism of Scholz
Merz reacts quite angrily to Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He hasn’t called him yet. After the Karlsruhe court ruling, Merz only saw the Chancellor once, at an Africa summit. He promised African countries four billion euros for climate projects. “There was time for that,” criticizes Merz. “I expect the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany to lead the government in this situation and tell the population what to do now. He can’t just disappear for a week.” The Union will work with the government in this crisis, but the main work lies with the traffic light coalition.
He doesn’t believe that it will collapse because of the crisis. Nevertheless, he says: “We are preparing for every conceivable scenario.” There will be European elections next year anyway, “but we are also in a position to contest a federal election straight away. I don’t expect that, but that could have changed again tomorrow evening.”